I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to techniques for system selection in a wireless communication environment.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication services; for instance, voice, video, packet data, broadcast, and messaging services can be provided via such wireless communication systems. These systems can be multiple-access systems that are capable of supporting communication for multiple terminals by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless terminals. In such a system, each terminal can communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on the forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminals to the base stations. This communication link can be established via a single-in-single-out (SISO), multiple-in-signal-out (MISO), or a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system.
As wireless communication technology advances, a growing number of different radio access technologies are being utilized. For instance, many geographic areas are now served by multiple wireless communication systems, each of which can utilize one or more different air interface technologies. In order to increase versatility of wireless terminals in such a network environment, there recently has been an increasing trend toward multi-mode wireless terminals that are able to operate under multiple radio technologies. For example, a multi-mode implementation can enable a terminal to select a system from among multiple systems in a geographic area, each of which may utilize different radio interface technologies, and subsequently communicate with one or more chosen systems
Conventionally, system selection in a wireless communication environment is based on priority lists, which list the preferred order in which a terminal is to attempt access to systems in a geographic area. However, such priority lists are generally associated with particular access technologies and/or sets of access technologies (e.g., based on communication standards), and contain formatting and information that are particular to the technologies and/or sets of technologies to which the lists correspond. As a result, a multi-mode terminal can be presented with multiple priority lists corresponding to different radio technologies, each of which contain different formatting and/or sets of information. This can, in turn, lead to difficulty and/or inefficiency in selecting a system from among a group of systems utilizing different access technologies. Accordingly, it would be desirable to implement techniques for multi-mode wireless system selection that mitigate at least the above shortcomings.